MAJOR: Syrian Army Close to Disconnecting Ankara-Controlled Areas

Hama, Syria – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is moving to split up the areas controlled by the Turkish Army in northern Hama, including the areas used for Turkey’s monitoring as the Syrian Army continues advances in the southern parts of Idlib.

A Syrian Army military source said that the government forces have targeted the terrorists’ military positions in the town of al-Tamaneh east of Khan Sheikhoun from their positions in Tal Sakik in southeastern Idlib.

The source also pointed to the Syrian Army’s efforts to take full control of al-Tamaneh town in Eastern Khan Sheikhoun in southern Idlib and said that other units of the Syrian Army are advancing from al-Hobait town towards Kafar Ain town in western Khan Sheikhoun.

He noted that if the Syrian Army makes advances from both directions and the government troops meet each other in Khan Sheikhoun, the terrorist groups stationed in over ten regions in northern Hama, including the city of Mourek which is an area under Ankara’s control, will fully come under the Syrian Army’s siege. In a relevant development on Friday, the terrorist groups had sustained heavy losses and casualties in the Syrian and Russian military operations on their bases in northern Syria.

The Syrian Army had managed to regain control of tens of regions in northern and northwestern Hama stretching towards the administrative borders with Idlib province, including several strategic bases of the terrorists, after the latter set up a joint operation room, reinforced their military positions, built tunnels and were equipped with modern weapons, Sham News website reported.

Syrian military expert Ali Maqsoud said that the terrorist groups have been badly disarrayed after the Syrian Army’s rapid advances in northern Hama which was supported by the Russian Air Force, and as their lines and strategic positions in northern Syria, including the strategic town of Khan Sheikhoun along Damascus-Aleppo Road in Idlib Province, were destroyed.

Maqsoud noted that the Syrian Army killed a large number of terrorists and destroyed their military vehicles in ambush operations in al-Arabaeen and al-Zuka towns and the strategic town of Hasraya in northern Hama that was the main depot of the militants’ US-made arms and military equipment.

In a relevant development earlier on Friday, the Syrian Army continued its military operations in northern Hama and laid siege on the main stronghold of Tahrir al-Sham al-Hay’at (the Levant Liberation Board or the Al-Nusra Front) from two different directions in southern Idlib.

The Syrian Army units continued their clashes with Tahrir al-Sham terrorists after taking full control of the town of Jisat in northern Hama. The Damascus Army regained control over Savameh Jisat and Damion Farms after inflicting heavy losses on the terrorists.

The Arabic-language website of the Russian Sputnik News Agency, meantime, reported that the Syrian Army, in its recent advances in northern Hama, has laid siege on the town of al-Hobait, one of main bastions of Tahrir al-Sham in southern Idlib, from the southern and western directions.

A battlefield source also noted that the strategic town of al-Hobait is considered the intersection of eastern, northern and northwestern parts of Hama. Al-Hobait is also the supply line and a passage for logistical aid to the terrorists in Khan Sheikoun. The terrorist groups have built complex underground tunnel networks in Khan Sheikhoun and its surrounding farms in recent years.